The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States at the White House in Washington, D.C. Part of the Executive Office of the President, it is located at the southeast corner of the West Wing.
A new Oval Office was the idea of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was designed by architect Eric Gugler as part of a 1933-34 expansion of the West Wing. President William Howard Taft had built a 1909 Oval Office at the center of the south side of the West Wing, but it was damaged in a 1929 fire. The new office offered FDR, who used a wheelchair, easier access, more privacy, and much more natural light. The Taft Oval Office was demolished in Gugler's expansion of the West Wing, and the space became additional staff offices.